Today I observed Airi’s session with her primary school student. This student can be highly distractable and often finds it difficult to concentrate. Working with these types of students requires considerable skill, patience, and understanding. Airi does an incredible job keeping the student on track and guiding him to get back on topic when he becomes distracted. One of the main strategies that I noticed her utilising is the prize box. When students work hard, they can gain stars for the lesson and their homework (up to 10 each session) which they can put towards ‘buying’ something from the prize box. Airi does a great job of reminding the student that staying focused will benefit them as they will eventually be able to earn a prize. I believe this is a highly effective method moving into later years of school, because the motivation of doing well, getting a particular job, or striving for a particular goal will become the prize, but the objective stays the same – it is rewarding to stay focused and learn. She also effectively utilised brain breaks throughout the session to allow the student to work in bursts – working hard when they are working and taking a good break by playing a quick game such as uno.

Riva Burkett